Wednesday, June 26, 2013

World War II in the Pacific

Waikiki Beach as seen from our dinner table
I've been unusually slow to add a new post to this blog but my excuse is that I've been out of town on business.  Truth be told, I've been in Hawaii but it was still business.  I did manage to have about 2 hours of vacation and was even able to walk in the water at Waikiki beach after a fabulous dinner overlooking the ocean.

My work in Hawaii was as part of a group doing a historical study of Ewa field (or more formally Marine Corps Air Field Ewa).  On their way to Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked Ewa field to prevent the US from initiating an air defense against the attack.  You can still see strafing damage on the runway where parked planes were shot up.  We stayed at Hickam Air Force Base which was also attacked the same time as Pearl Harbor and where you can still see damage from the attack.

Being so involved with WWII history made me think of Dad, who was wounded at Guadalcanal.  So I thought I would share a couple of "souvenirs" he brought back from the war - rare photos of civilian prisoners of the Japanese, probably somewhere in Indonesia.  The one where the soldiers are sitting with the children makes me feel pretty uneasy although there is no obvious mistreatment going on.

These photographs are not for sale, but there are plenty of other WWII related items for sale at our store.  There are other WWII photographs, a practice bomb, Navy binoculars, and many other WWII items waiting for you to discover as you explore Antiques on Main for its many treasures.